Tuesday, April 23, 2013

Sidelined

I'll be the first to admit, I'm a bit of a softball klutz.  I've given myself as many little bruises and scrapes on the field as actual game play has.  I tend to trip over things.  My shoelaces, the edge of the dugout, even invisible holes in the outfield.  Which brings us to today's post subject:  injuries.  Depending on when they occur in our athletic careers and the seriousness of them, injuries can be either just an annoying part of the sport or a devastating point in your life.  Personally, my biggest injury fell sort of in the middle ground.  It all started when I stepped in the aforementioned invisible outfield hole.  I thought it was just some sort of sprain in my foot, but after limping around for the remainder of the season, I went for a professional opinion and was told I had an extra bone in my foot that was causing problems. Um...what?  Yep.  "Accessory Navicular" affects 2 to 12 percent of the population, although most that have it aren't even aware unless they pull a bonehead move such as mine.  But that's a story for another day.  The real issue is how to deal with an injury.

Now, it just so happened that the only way to relieve myself of the pain caused by my extra bone was to take it out completely with surgery.  Most athletes will shudder at the word.  Surgery means rehab.  Rehab means extra work.  Extra work means...well, you get the picture.  No one likes the idea of going to physical therapy or putting in countless extra hours in the gym or on the practice field no matter how tough they appear to be (*cough*Kobe*cough*).  Rehab sucks.  But if you ever want to be at full strength again, YOU HAVE TO DO IT!  This is coming from personal experience.  I failed to do my physical therapy at home like I should have (yes, Dad, I'm sorry), and I still pay the price for it now every rainy day.  So I give you this very simple advice: listen to you doctor and do as he/she tells you, even if you have to quit being a whiny, lazy bum for a while.  You'll be thankful you did.

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